The organization aims to sell 2 Lakh AISECT BharatPay Cards in a year in order to boost cashless transactions in semi-urban and rural India

New Delhi : AISECT Ltd, which is the leading provider of skills and ICT based education and services in semi-urban and rural India, has launched the AISECT BharatPay Prepaid Card in partnership with Digicard Services Pvt. Ltd. This reloadable open-loop prepaid card, with Yes Bank and RuPay co- branding, has been launched as a smart and easy-to- acquire alternative to carrying cash with an aim of boosting digital and cashless transactions in the district, block and panchayat level areas of the country.

AISECT Ltd. aims to sell around 2 lakh AISECT BharatPay Prepaid Cards within a year and will use its widespread network of over 20,000 centres, located across 29 States and 3 Union Territories, to achieve this target. Customers will be able to purchase the card at the AISECT Ltd. Centres at a nominal price of INR 150/-.

Commenting on the prospects of BharatPay Prepaid Card, Mr. Abhishek Pandit (Director-Business Services, AISECT Ltd.) said, “According to data by the Reserve Bank of India, our country had around 30.6 million credit cards and 880.3 million debit cards by May 2017. Even if we choose to ignore the fact that many of us hold numerous cards and that many of these cards belong to dormant accounts, a significant percentage of Indians, especially those residing in rural areas, is still dependent on traditional banking methods.”

He further added, “In order to penetrate digital banking cards at the grassroots level, we have partnered with Digicard Services to launch the AISECT BharatPay Prepaid Card. This will not only significantly help in increasing the number of Indians who own a banking card, but would also support the Government’s Digital India and cashless transaction drive. We are confident that hassle-free banking, coupled with the strong presence and brand equity of our organization in semi-urban and rural areas, will help in successful nationwide acceptability of the prepaid card.”

AISECT BharatPay Prepaid Card is neither a credit card nor a debit card linked to any existing bank account. It is a zero-balance prepaid card that can be instantly activated post an easy e-KYC. The maximum amount that can be loaded in the card is INR 1 Lakh. It can be used for withdrawing money from the ATM of any bank across India. Moreover, the card is operational across 30 million merchants and major e-commerce websites in India, where RuPay cards are accepted. It can also be used for availing the numerous services on aisectonline.com, including utility bill payment, mobile and DTH recharge, railways tickets booking, etc.

The cards have a fully secure enterprise-level security system, wherein all confidential data of the users will be encrypted and stored, and will not be shared with any third-party organization at any cost.

The launch of this Prepaid Card is the latest in a series of initiatives that AISECT Ltd. has taken in the last three decades to bridge the technology and skills gaps in semi-urban and rural parts of the country. Till date, the organization has imparted skills and ICT-based training to 20 lakh students and generated around 15,000 rural entrepreneurs. It has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation with an aim of skilling 13 lakh people by 2020. As part of its financial inclusion initiatives, AISECT Ltd. works as the National Business Correspondent of the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, wherein it has set up around 4,000 banking kiosks across 13 States. 88 lakh accounts have been opened in these kiosks till date.

AISECT Ltd. has also launched RojgarMantra.com as the biggest rural job placement initiative of India. The organization has launched AISECTMOOCS.com as India’s largest free online open learning platform with over 2000 free certificate and diploma courses available in both English and Hindi. Furthermore, AISECTOnline.com is a one-stop window that makes various digital services accessible to the common man in their rural locality. The portal is integrated with Government departments, private businesses and other organizations and provides a host of educational services, MOOCs as well as B2C and G2C services.